Cogs Agency

Google Creative Lab

Gaby — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:59:59 +0000

Check out Google Creative Lab’s 87 cool things…

Stuff they like, stuff they’ve made and things worth knowing about…

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=df7rw7vz_107ccgmw9g8

Go FWA!!!

Ben — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:59:47 +0000

Yesterday was the day that the FWA re-launched thefwa.com/

Functionality loads better and as always the best work. With the public votes, it can surely only be a few more days until the new Cogs Agency site is featured?

Perm is the new freelance

Chris — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:00:12 +0000

The number of permanent positions available in digital is growing fast, but companies are taking longer than ever to hire people.

Is it fear of the dreaded double dip (a great name for a roller coaster!) meaning people are waiting to see what the first quarter looks like before committing to permanent hires.

Or are companies still feeling a little bruised from the recession and are taking it steady?

Either way, market report from Jan and Feb; number of perm roles up ….number of perm hires remains the same.

Death of the job board?

Chris — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:16:57 +0000

We are finding less and less people are applying to the ads we place on jobs boards; a few possible reasons…

- There are now lots of places for companies to advertise roles for free, such as linkedin and facebook, meaning people look for jobs in a wider variety of places.

- A lot of the ads on job boards are from 2nd rate recruiters and for made up roles. Mainly posted in the hope someone half decent might apply, for whom they can speculatively approach prospective employers, often without the candidate’s knowledge (rant over).

- The best way to get a job is chatting to someone you trust; such as an industry friend, an ex-colleague or a really good recruiter. Then you don’t waste time applying for any old job on the web.

- There are loads of job boards out there! With new ones springing up every day.

All doesn’t bode too well for online jobs boards. That said if you want a good one in our industry, try Brand Republic, not guaranteed to find you a job but at least there a more jobs on there than anywhere else.

Better still, if you want to work in digital in London give us a call and we’ll do our best to help…..

Are planners social?

Chris — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:10:43 +0000

We are getting a number of requests from agencies to find planners that can write strategy, lead idea generation and then implement social media campaigns. This is a pretty wide set of skills! I’ve met a variety of ”social media planners” over the last couple of years and the backgrounds people come from are very varied….

• Digital strategists who enjoy working in social media but have a broader base of strategic experience with different types of projects; brand advertising, digital marketing etc

• People who have worked in social media agencies who excel in writing strategy but work in smaller teams where their remit is broader; account management, delivery.

• Self taught digital planners such as bloggers that have promoted events/products but on their own time and often not for big brands.

Who’s got the best skills for these projects? It could be any of the above, but a type of person I would really like to meet is a comms planner from a direct agency that is a prolific blogger, tweeter and facebook user in their spare time.

My thoughts being that a social media campaign is in some cases an extension of a crm program. With the tools and techniques available to derive data (and therefore insight) from the communications of social media + a lot of people out there that specialise in blogger out reach – surely an integrated planner who is digitally savvy combined with a digital copywriter could make a killer team!

Clearly there are lots of social campaigns where the plan to is to produce engaging and rich content and get this in front of the right people, this being an extension of brand advertising, but for those briefs where the strategy is more about ongoing communication I think an integrated planner could fit the bill.

My final thought on this topic is why there isn’t more social media strategy coming from integrated agencies………………..

Love Story

Liam — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:39:35 +0000

Google did this piece back in November as part of their SearchStories series, but decided to run with it during this years Superbowl to reach a wider audience. A lovely story and one which, as the shy, retiring and often reserved George Parker put it

“..got to the very heart of what they are about and what they can do for you. A simple concise exposition of what it is that’s made them masters of the Universe. And unlike all that Bud shit, it didn’t cost them a fucking arm and a leg to tell the story beautifully.”

Adland the Movie

Liam — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:51:25 +0000

Entertaining promo for this years Creative Circle awards. By Mark Denton’s Coy .

Why do many of the best senior producers go freelance?

Chris — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:25:56 +0000

After several lengthy searches to find outstanding senior producers, you know, those people with loads of technically and creatively complex projects under their belt, who are totally process focused but gel perfectly with creatives. I’ve reached a couple of conclusions.

When people get to a certain level, lets say £55k salarywise and hit their groove running great work, they seem to reach a career crossroads. Either switch to freelance with the prospect of earning up to 40% more and the luxury of flexible working. Or stay put and wait for a promotion.

I guess there isn’t an abundance of project director or head of production roles, so as a senior when you’ve reached the point where you looking for a new challenge (such as managing a team or a department) then you have a couple of choices. If you can’t find the opportunity either internally or elsewhere to step up another rung, then earning more money for the same role and being in a position where you can cherry pick the projects you work on can appear like the most attractive option.

It doesn’t make for total career Utopia though. Often as a freelancer you stop being in a position where a company will invest time and money developing your skills or improving your long term career prospects.

All of this doesn’t help those businesses that are looking for permanent , proven senior producers that can become integral to the culture of the agency and be trusted to run important, agency defining projects. Without the expense or transience of using a contractor.

Critical Mass

Liam — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:20:24 +0000

Ace mag Creative Review is looking for guest reviewers. They say you don’t need to be a ‘professional creative’. Just have an opinion. Go on unleash your inner Cowell, Lawson, Kermode or Sewell.

Al Campbell

morphlondon — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:11:29 +0000

Cogs are well-connected, smart, hard working and a pleasure to deal with. What’s more they’re usually first to the bar.